


My Name's Gonna Look Great On Him

by marsakat



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Pining, Tattoos, Tour, TØP Debate, What-If, mild possessive behavior
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-27
Updated: 2016-11-27
Packaged: 2018-09-02 15:28:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8672695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marsakat/pseuds/marsakat
Summary: What if only one person won the TOP debate? What if only one person got tattooed?





	1. Josh Wins

**Author's Note:**

> This is a two part-er exploring if the TØP debate didn't end in a tie. Does the outcome stay the same?

Tyler hates losing and Josh doesn't really care about winning, so Tyler can't really find the drive to feel the derision normally reserved for his competitors. He likes Josh way too much to have this game be anything more than a silly joke between them. It's probably for the best, because, seriously, everyone loves Josh. And if Tyler didn't love Josh more than everyone else combined, he'd be mad that Josh beat him so easily in the poll. Either he was getting more mature, tossing petty jealousy aside, or he understood why the majority (not by much, but just enough) preferred Josh over him.

Josh was just a genuinely good person, so Tyler graciously conceded, tugged down his pants and let Josh carefully tattoo his name upon his thigh to the cheers of thousands of people. It's a private area, not one he displays often, but every time he showers, undresses, or pulls down his pants to inspect the ink, he smiles at the four letters permanently etched there. It's comforting to know that 'jOSH' will be with him to the grave.

Josh, on the other hand, started looking especially worried within 24 hours of branding Tyler. When the singer made a flippant remark about Josh just having to learn the lyrics and then he can be a one man band as the fans would probably prefer, he wasn't met with a laugh or sarcastic remark. Instead, Josh's eyes grew wide and he started to gnaw on his bottom lip.

"I couldn't do this without you," Josh mumbled later, before they walked onstage.

He grew more apologetic as the tour dates passed, avoiding even looking at the tattoo when Tyler would parade past him wearing his shortest boxers.

"I'm sorry, man," he'd say, even though Tyler insisted he was more than happy to have Josh's name on him forever. "Yeah, but it just doesn't seem fair!" Josh would exclaim as Tyler tried to reassure him.

"But you won!" Tyler pointed out again and again.

"Doesn't feel like I did. I feel...bad," Josh said, defeatedly, and no matter what he said, Tyler couldn't cheer Josh up.

It all finally boiled over when Josh told him he found someone that could turn the name into a different design to cover it up, and Tyler gave his ultimatum.

"Dude, I love having your name on me," he grabbed Josh's face and held it close to his own, "I'm not taking it off or changing it."

"Isn't it bad luck? What if we--"

"Josh, we're never breaking up."

"It's just...not fair," Josh practically whined.

"Fine. Then I'm tattooing my name on you. Tomorrow. On stage," Tyler said with finality and then pecked Josh on the nose. "Now Mark's gotta find someone in the next city to give us a setup."

It was deja vu, though the crowd had no idea anything was about to happen so there wasn't any anticipatory restlessness in the crowd. They were met more so with confusion as all the lights came up and Tyler stepped to the front of the stage. All attention was focused on him as crew members rolled a table full of tattoo equipment onstage, and Josh took a seat on a chair placed right behind Tyler.

"So two weeks ago, we had a debate on Twitter to see who you’d all chose; Josh...or me." He paused for cheers, "Twitter spoke...and despite voting for myself on five accounts, I lost. So Josh, my best fren, tattooed his name on me." Another pause for screaming. He turned to smile at Josh, who was chugging a water bottle.

"Josh is really great, and that's why I'm glad he tattooed me in what is probably Comic Sans. But these past few weeks--and this is why he's my best fren---he's been down. Like super bummed. He's been apologizing and everything, saying 'oh man Tyler I'm sorry' even though he won fair and square." Tyler paced, Mark following him with the camera.

"Finally last night we came to a decision..." this time he paused to build suspense.

"And so today...right here, right now...if it's okay with you all...I'm going to tattoo my name on Josh."

The venue exploded with cheers.

Tyler told his hands to stay steady, to do what he told them with precision and delicacy. Josh chose an area so much more prominent than his, and Tyler saw something in those eyes that said this meant a lot to him. He didn't see the blissful look on Josh's face while he wrote his name, until he looked at the videos and photos taken in that moment.

Tyler hadn't meant to go over his name three times, only noticing the slight clench in Josh's hands as the pain increased.

"Sorry!" Tyler apologized, finishing the R for the last time, realizing too how large it was.

"No, I love it," Josh spoke softly, glowing and happy.

"You're mine now," Tyler whispered in his ear as the tattoo artist covered the fresh ink. "I put my name on you and everything."

Josh blushed and avoided his eyes, and Tyler felt an even stronger wave of possession as Mark snapped a picture. The table was dragged off stage and it was just the two of them, Josh already behind the drumset and grinning wide.

"Thank you all for waiting!" He addressed the crowd, "Now can we play you another song?"

Tyler couldn't remember the rest of the show, life moving fast forward until his arm was over Josh's shoulders as they bowed. All he wanted was to get Josh alone, press against him and meet his lips over and over saying "mine....mine...mine..."

He memorized the need in Josh’s eyes, his sigh of relief that blew minty-fresh breath across Tyler’s lips and welcomed him to card fingers through sweaty hair.  They belonged to no one else but each other, and were just now discovering what that exactly meant.


	2. Tyler Wins

Tyler barely eked out a win, and everyone was surprised since Josh had been winning all day.  Tyler squeaked by at the very end, to his own mother’s relief.  He didn’t want Josh to feel bad about losing, but if anything, the drummer looked more excited to have Tyler tattoo him than Tyler was himself.

“Dude, this is so cool!” Josh squeezed his shoulder before they walked on stage to start the show. “I’m going to rip all of my jeans just to show off my sick ink.”

The remorse Tyler felt was only temporary after Josh insisted “nah, don’t worry, it’s not that big!” (with a distant, unidentified crew member snickering “that’s what she said” from a bunk).  But something about it  _ did something _ to Tyler.  His face would flush, heart would race, and the taste of something akin to ownership or protection would ring in his mouth like iron.  It wasn’t just the sight of the tattoo, but even the mere thought of its presence, the look on Josh’s face as the needles pierced his skin.

He was being driven crazy the whole concept, and hoped everyone else was just as affected by it too.  Tyler would watch the eyes of interviewers who stared at the letters and then back up between the two of them.  He wondering what strangers thought as they spotted his name through the frayed threads of Josh’s pants.  Was Josh’s mother’s sigh just the fact he had another tattoo, or did she see what Tyler wanted so badly?

It was just too much to look at pictures of Josh on vacation with friends, in those short green swim trunks and ‘Tyler’ right there.  Anyone who saw that had to think, had to believe, that Josh was Tyler’s.  There was no way any sane man would let their ‘best fren’ platonically tattoo their name on their leg.  Wouldn’t they essentially be ‘spoiled’ for anyone else? If they undressed in front of anyone else, it would be an awkward conversation of what that name means to you.

It drove him to be bolder and more obvious with his affection.  He would grab Josh’s hand as they walked together, lean into him more, and let himself stare as long as he liked.  Tyler was trying to build the courage to say what he’d been holding back for too long.  Because if Josh let him mark his skin with his name for all eternity, it meant that this wasn’t one-sided.

Tyler could tell that Josh felt  _ something _ for that tattoo.  Besides the destruction of his jeans, Josh would absently trace over the lines, stare at the black contrast against his skin, and Tyler sometimes caught him stroking the area when he was feeling anxious.  Josh seemed unaware of his own attentiveness to that spot, but Tyler was hypervigilant.

And he...he wanted that for himself. He wanted Josh’s name on his leg too, a comfort and reminder that his right-hand man would always be with him.  This bond wasn’t just one way; they were ride or die, a packaged deal, two in a pair.  Tyler couldn’t be the only one left unmarked.  It wouldn’t be right.

He told everyone but Josh and made all the arrangements.  Mark filmed the crowd as Brad captured Josh’s reaction once the lights came up.

“What’s going on?” Josh asked into their private microphone, but Tyler began his speech instead. 

“A few months ago, we had a competition to see who you prefer; me or Josh.  And as it says in our bandmate contract, I, as the lead singer, must win every competition.  So, I tattooed Josh onstage.” The crowd cheered and Josh kept glancing between Tyler and Brad’s camera fixed upon him.  A flurry of activity started and Josh seemed to understand that something he was not informed about was going to happen anyway.

“Ever since then, something just hasn’t felt right, you know?” Tyler looked briefly at Josh who cocked his head in confusion and trepidation.  “I mean, we’re a team.  It’s just not right that only Josh has my name on him, and I don’t have Josh’s.  So, I’m gonna have my best fren tattoo me right now, if that’s cool with you?”  The last question was directed at the crowd and at the drummer who nodded and stood with an ocean of emotion sweeping across his face.

Everyone moved around them and Josh grabbed Tyler’s wrist.  He pulled him close, ignoring the happy screams in the crowd.

“You sure about this, man?” Josh whispered in his ear.  Tyler shivered, electricity flowing down his spine.

“Never been more sure in my life,” Tyler assured him, and he yanked down his pants. 

Josh’s hands shook as the gun buzzed to life and the crowd roared.  Tyler touched his forearm to steady him, a simple nod between the two, and Josh left his name upon Tyler’s thigh.

After the show, Josh pulled Tyler aside.  They stood between cases and cases of gear, stagehands moving unseen beyond them.  This was private, not for anyone else’s eyes but their own; no cameras, no fans, no crew members.  Just the two bandmates

“You didn’t have to do this.” He gestured to the new tattoo.

“I know,” Tyler moved close, realizing this was the moment he’d been waiting to act upon. “Thank you.”

Josh’s knees bumped Tyler’s, and their thighs brushed as they moved together hungrily.  Tyler’s skin prickled but he couldn’t feel it over the sensation of Josh’s lips pressing against his own.  The location may have been less than ideal, but both were thankful that it was finally happening.

The tattoos were a brand, a promise, a reminder, and an “if lost, please return to…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look, we've all come to the conclusion that if there was one clear winner, there was no way in hell only one person would get tattooed. I'm sure they planned to get each other's names on themselves regardless.
> 
> Thanks for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> teeentyonepilots on tumblr.


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